Books about Books: Trend Characteristics and Book Competence
https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2025-4-26-37
Abstract
Electronic and audio books have not replaced paper ones, but have updated them in a new way; that’s why books about books are becoming a noticeable trend. Its features are examined using the example of two recent publications: “The Book as an Illusion” by Yulia Shcherbinina and “Portable Magic” (“Notes of a Bibliophile” in Russian) by Emma Smith. First, the trend itself is characterized: its expansion with the claim to be “mainstream”, the use of the resource of a broader trend of “coziness”, the spread of book-related activities, including specialized blogging. Then, by comparing the works of E. Smith and Yu. Shcherbinina, the key points of the current agenda of the problematization of bookishness are analyzed: firstly, the status of materiality and, secondly, the activity of the owner or user of the book, including the not always obvious division of all book-related practices on reader’s and non-reader’s ones. To describe bookishness, the concept of book social competence is introduced, which is extended to modern book infrastructure and practices.
About the Author
N. V. Veselkova
Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, Ural Institute of Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Veselkova Natalia Vadimovna, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Sociology
51 Lenin St., Yekaterinburg, 620083
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1. Рис. 1. Обложки книг Ю. Щербининой «Книга как иллюзия» и Э. Смит «Записки библиофила». Источник: сайты издательств «Альпина» и «Азбука» | |
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2. Рис. 1. Обложки книг Ю. Щербининой «Книга как иллюзия» и Э. Смит «Записки библиофила». Источник: сайты издательств «Альпина» и «Азбука» | |
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3. Рис. 2. Первая инсталляция серии «Биографии» А. Мартин, Мадрид, 2003. Фото Е. Прямиковой | |
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4. Рис. 3. Инсталляция Т. Ради «Маяковский». Екатеринбург, 2010. Источник: Марина. Улица шепчется // Книги и библиотеки. 2010. URL: https://forum.uraic.ru/blog/?p=3873 (дата обращения: 16.05.2025) | |
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5. Рис. 4. КАМЮ. Книги, видео. Вид инсталляции Т. Ради (2 Уральская …, 2012, с. 240–241) | |
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6. Рис. 4. КАМЮ. Книги, видео. Вид инсталляции Т. Ради (2 Уральская …, 2012, с. 240–241) | |
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Review
For citations:
Veselkova N.V. Books about Books: Trend Characteristics and Book Competence. Bibliosphere. 2025;(4):26-37. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2025-4-26-37
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